


Rainman

by Maverick



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-18
Updated: 2014-05-18
Packaged: 2018-01-25 12:43:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1649036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maverick/pseuds/Maverick
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rodney always wanted to be a hero.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rainman

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: "We would often be sorry if our wishes were gratified." - Aesop  
> Originally written for the stargateanon community. Dedicated to my partner in crime cheights as it was written for her birthday and just happened to fit my anon prompt as well.  
> 

"Unscheduled offworld activation. It's Ronon's IDC."  
  
"Open the gate," John said as he was already bounding down the gateroom stairs, two at a time, his sidearm out and drawn.  
  
Ronon came through the gate with Rodney thrown over his shoulder, unconscious. He was pulling Major Lorne, who was also unconscious, on a roughly made skid behind him. Dropping the rope to the skid, he carefully laid Rodney down on the gateroom floor before teetering forward and passing out.  
  
It should have been a simple mission. Gate in, set up some sensors, wait for the data to compile and gate back out. So simple in fact that Sheppard had sent Lorne instead of going himself. Rodney had planned on sending Zelenka but an allergic reaction to an Athosian pudding left Radek in the infirmary with an all over rash and Rodney bitching about how nobody took issue with Zelenka's allergies like they did his own. The only reason Ronon was on the mission at all was that he was bored and wanted offworld. John had laughed when he made the request and said, "You must be really *bored* if you're volunteering to spend the afternoon with McKay." Ronon just shrugged and asked again if he could go. John figured it couldn't hurt to have an extra man along as back up.  
  
After rushing all three men to the infirmary, Elizabeth and John tried to piece together what could have happened to make such a simple assignment go so badly. As they frantically waited for news from Carson about the extent of everyone's injuries, they decided the best course of action was to send a MALP back through the gate to investigate the scene.  
  
As images from the MALP flickered in, they were shocked at the destruction that played before them. The earth was scorched, bloody bodies lay where they had fallen. It looked like a massive fire fight had taken place. Once John saw the pictures, he knew how damn lucky they were that any of them had made it back alive. And with that realization came a wave of anger that he had to squeeze his hands into tight fists to keep in check. Anger wasn't going to help his team win the battle they were currently fighting.  
  
"Shut it down," Elizabeth said, turning away from the images. She placed her hand on John's elbow and led him away. "Let's go see how our people are doing."  
  
John just nodded as he walked beside her.  
  
They sat in the makeshift waiting room off the medlab for what seemed like hours. It occurred to John that they spent way too much time in this tiny little room. He stood up and began pacing again. Elizabeth gave up on trying to get him to be still more than an hour ago. He continued his walk to nowhere until Carson entered the room some time later.  
  
"How are they?" Elizabeth asked before John could get the words out.  
  
Carson looked up and gave them a brief smile. "They'll make it. Major Lorne was the most badly wounded. He took a massive piece of shrapnel in the back, dangerously close to the spine. The only reason it didn't shift in transport was that his body had been immobilized against the skid with a series of pulleys and weights. It's quite ingenious really. Something we might want to think about training all our medics to do."  
  
John tried his best to keep his voice even tempered, but it was hard. "That's all well and good, Doc, but...?"  
  
Carson cut John off and continued. "Sorry. We were able to remove the bullet with no complications. Several weeks recovery time and the Major will be as good as new."  
  
"And the others?"  
  
"Ronon took a lot of of smaller pieces of shrapnel, mostly centered across his chest and arms. His wounds were primarily superficial but he lost a lot of blood which probably accounts for him passing out in the gate room."  
  
John put his hands on his hips. "So he'll recover as well?"  
  
"Aye from those injuries, yes. More troublesome however is the significant debris we had to flush from his eyes. It's remarkable that he was able to make it back to the gate at all. He would have been virtually blind."  
  
"Blind?" John tried to keep the panic out of his voice, but failed. He knew Ronon, he knew what sort of man he was. The loss of his sight would kill him as sure as a bullet. "Will he be able to see?"  
  
"I believe so, but we won't know more until he wakes up. As I said, we flushed his eyes and both of his pupils responded to light so I'm optimistic."  
  
"And Rodney?"  
  
"That's the strangest thing. There's nothing wrong with him. Not a scratch on him actually."  
  
"He's unconscious."  
  
"I'm aware of that Colonel, but there is no medical reason for him to be that way. There is no head trauma, no internal injuries. In fact, Rodney is as close to perfect health as ever I've seen him."  
  
"But he's unconscious." John heard the whine in his voice and cringed. Man, maybe he had been around McKay too long. Who knew petulance was contagious.  
  
"Could this be psychological?" Elizabeth asked, too calm for John's liking. "If the images from the MALP are any indication then being in the thick of that would have been very traumatic."  
  
Carson nodded. "That would be my guess, yes. And hopefully, he'll wake up when he's ready. And so will the others. I'm sorry Colonel but we'll just have to wait a wee bit longer to find out what happened out there."  
  
Carson had said that Major Lorne would be in recovery for a while, so John situated himself on a gurney across from Rodney and Ronon and waited. John had never been good at waiting. Sure, he claimed to be naturally lazy, but he was a man of action when it mattered. His team, people he cared about and who cared about him, had been injured and he hadn't been there. He knew the risks and he was well aware that every member of the expedition knew the risks as well, but it didn't make him feel any less impotent. One of them needed to wake up already and let him know what the hell had happened.  
  
And Ronon being the true soldier that he was, chose that moment to open his eyes. "Sheppard?"  
  
John smiled for the first time since the gate had activated bringing his people back to Atlantis. "So you can see, I take it?"  
  
"Things are a bit blurry but yeah, I can see. McKay and Lorne?"  
  
John hopped down and walked closer to the bed. "They're gonna be okay. Good work. I don't know how you managed to get the three of you out of there alive, but I'm damn glad you did.  
  
Ronon shifted until he was sitting up on the bed. "It wasn't me."  
  
John leaned onto the end of the bed. "What?"  
  
"It wasn't me. We'd all be dead if it wasn't for McKay."  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
 _Rodney stared up at John who was standing over him. He took the extended hand offered him and stood up with a groan. "This is so not fun for me."  
  
John patted his shoulder. "Hand-to-hand combat training is an essential skill in the field."  
  
Walking to the bench near the window, Rodney grabbed his water canteen and took a long swig. "You know when I was a kid, I signed up for karate so I could be cool like Bruce Lee. It didn't take long for me to realize that those delusions of grandeur would sadly remain unrealized."  
  
Putting his hands on his hips, John stretched from one side to the other. "How come?"  
  
"My sister Jeannie took it too. She cracked three of my ribs with a round kick."  
  
"Ouch. But hey, that's all the more reason to train now," John said in his most encouraging tone.  
  
Rodney shot him a look that said he clearly wasn't buying it. "Face it Colonel. You only drag me down here to *train* because you're tired of always getting your ass kicked by Teyla and Ronon. I have much more important things that I could be doing."  
  
"I make you train McKay because it can save your life. But you're right, both Teyla and Ronon can kick my ass and yet, I still come and train with them."  
  
"Well hooray for your masochistic tendencies," Rodney said with a wave of his hands. "However, most of us sane people don't share them."  
  
John smirked at him. "Quit your whining and get your ass back over here and try again."  
  
Rodney walked back to the middle of the mat, his arms folded across his chest. "If I can't take a Wraith out with a gun, do you really think I stand a chance one-on-one?"  
  
"No, probably not. But it's better to die trying."  
  
Rodney rolled his eyes. "Pearls of wisdom there, Colonel."  
  
"And we have other enemies beside the Wraith."  
  
"Oh, now *that's* a comforting thought." Rodney widened his stance and clasped John's arm. "Show me how to break that hold again." _  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
John knew better than anyone that Rodney was often the one variable between survival and certain death, but normally it was his mind that saved them. But he couldn't dismiss the fact that Rodney was an impressive shot, especially for someone so high strung. He could be fleeing for his life, not holding his gun in a remotely correct way and he'd still hit the bullseye almost every time.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
 _"You know McKay, you're a natural with a firearm. Your aim is true even if your mechanics are wacky."  
  
"Excuse me if I'm not overjoyed that you regard me as some sort of firearms idiot savant."  
  
"Yes, that what I'm saying Rodney. You're Rainman of the Pegasus Galaxy." John clasped his hands together and did his best Dustin Hoffman impression. "'I'm an excellent shot. I'm an excellent shot.'"  
  
Pausing to reload his gun, Rodney rolled his eyes under his protective goggles. "If you're going to malign Tom Cruise movies, stick with _ Top Gun. _That one can use all the help it can get."  
  
"Hey, I like that movie."  
  
Rodney nodded in what could only be called a mocking manner. "I'm sure you do. Am I done here or do you require me to massacre more paper targets before I'm allowed to go back to my lab?"  
  
John laughed. "You're good. Same time tomorrow. P-90 training. The paper targets don't stand a chance."  
  
"Can't wait." _  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
Ronon sat up on his hospital bed, his legs hanging off the side. "We came through the gate with no problems. I did a quick sweep around the perimeter as McKay started setting up the equipment. He complained the entire time about this was 'so not the job of the Chief Science Officer."  
  
John nodded, pulling a stool over to the edge of Ronon's bed. "Sounds just like McKay."  
  
Ronon leaned over to grab his water glass and took a swig. "We heard something explode off in the distance so Lorne told McKay to wrap it up. We were heading back to the gate when it happened. Someone catapulted what looked like a rock at us, about the size of that football of yours. But it wasn't a rock, it was a bomb that exploded sending debris everywhere. We made a run for the gate as twelve hostiles advanced. I took out two of them and Lorne got two more before the next bomb was launched."  
  
The nurse came in to change Ronon's dressing and John cringed as Ronon pulled out the IV in his arm and handed it to her. She didn't even flinch. It seemed that with the number of times Ronon had ended up in the infirmary over the last year, the staff knew better than to argue with him about such things.  
  
John didn't want to rush Ronon along in his storytelling but he really wanted to know what had happened with Rodney. "You said something about McKay saving the day," John said after the nurse left.  
  
Ronon nodded. "It's all kind of muddled from that point on. A blast hit me in my chest, the force sending me sprawling backwards. I must have passed out because I woke up to McKay muttering something about repetitive motion injuries and a tunnel of carpal. Everything was blurry, but I could hear him spinning my gun to recharge it. Then he fired on what I guess was the last of the ambush team because he came over and checked on Lorne and me."  
  
John scrubbed his face with his hands. If Lorne and Ronon only took out four men that meant Rodney took out eight. Rodney killed eight men. John could feel the anger rising inside him again.  
  
It looked like Ronon recognized the horror on John's face. "McKay did good. Better than good. Lorne and I owe him our lives. He got Lorne set up on the skid and we started off for the gate. I still couldn't see very well, so it was slow moving. At some point he turned back around and realized what he'd done. He said, 'oh my God, I really am Rainman' and then passed out."  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
It was another four hours before Rodney woke up looking a whole lot worse than either Ronon or Lorne had. His injuries might not have been physical but he would wear the scars of the day just the same. "Welcome back," John said with an encouraging smile. "How are you feeling?"  
  
Rodney sat up in the bed. He was even more pale than normal. "Oh never better. And you?"  
  
John shrugged. "I've had better days. You guys gave us quite a scare."  
  
"Sorry to ruin your day off there, Colonel. It wasn't my intention."  
  
John could see the moment that it all came back to Rodney as his color shifted from pallid to sickly green. "You're sure you're okay?"  
  
Rodney took a gasp of breath. "No. I'm not remotely okay, but I'm alive."  
  
"So are Ronon and Lorne. You did great out there Rodney."  
  
"I killed eight people."  
  
"Who were trying to kill you."  
  
"I'm not arguing the fact that yes, they would have killed me...us. But I shot eight *people*. Not Wraiths or some other sort of creature. *People*"  
  
"You did what you had to do."  
  
"Oh yes, Colonel Sheppard's answer to everything. I did what I had to do. Well excuse me if that doesn't make me feel any better."  
  
"I didn't think it would. But you and Ronon and Lorne came out alive and I'm not going to be sorry about that."  
  
"It's just...I could never please my father. I was always more interested in music or science, never sports or fishing or any of his interests. But one year, I think I was fourteen or fifteen, I agreed to go hunting with him."  
  
John pulled a chair over next to Rodney's infirmary bed and sat down.  
  
"So I took the hunter safety course and when I passed, my father presented me with a hunting license and my very own rifle. It was the most time he'd ever spent with me, and really the most interest he'd ever shown in me, so I was happy. What I didn't realize was that when hunting season rolled around, he was going to sign me out of school so we could go hunting." Rodney paused and cleared his throat.  
  
"Do you want some water?" John asked, already out of his seat to get some.  
  
Rodney nodded yes. After taking a sip of the water, Rodney continued. "I was taking an advanced physics class and I really didn't want to miss any of the lectures, so I was determined to get a deer on the first day."  
  
"I bet you did, didn't you?"  
  
Rodney shot him a faint smile. "Yes, I did. First shot. An eight point buck. My father was so impressed, he patted me on my back before we walked over to the deer. I was excited until I saw the buck on the ground." Rodney voice cracked. "It wasn't dead yet. I stood there and watched as it gasped its last breath. I watched as its eyes went glassy and dead. It was up to that point the most horrific thing I'd even seen."  
  
John nodded in sympathy.  
  
Rodney met John's eyes and smiled mirthlessly. "And my father had never been prouder of me. He had the damn thing stuffed and mounted. I had to look at that poor creature every day until I went to college two years later."  
  
"Oh man. That sucks."  
  
"So I made the decision never to shoot a gun again. My father took it as a personal betrayal." Rodney shrugged. "Of course encountering a galaxy of life-sucking aliens made me reconsider that position. But I never want anyone to be *proud* of me because I can shoot something dead."  
  
John was well aware of Rodney's blunt tongue and had been on the receiving end of it more times than he could count. But never before had it felt so much like a physical blow. He stood up quickly, accidentally knocking over the chair. "You actually think that's what I meant? That I'm celebrating your kill ratio?"  
  
Rodney looked up at him like he was nuts.  
  
Okay, so maybe that wasn't what Rodney was saying at all. "Ah...sorry." John uprighted the chair and sat back down.  
  
"Issues much, Colonel?"  
  
"Sorry. I just... I should have been there."  
  
Rodney snorted. "And that would have helped how?"  
  
John shrugged. "It would've made me feel better."  
  
"Yes, certain grave bodily injury is soooo much fun."  
  
Rodney's sarcasm made John smile, and he felt the tension that had tightened around him loosen just a bit. "You made it out of there without a scratch."  
  
Rodney sighed. "And to think I never before fully appreciated the value of blind dumb luck."  
  
John leaned forward in the chair until his hands were touching the side of Rodney's bed. "It was skill, McKay. Now is not the time for you to be humble. You might not like it, but your actions made sure your teammates came back alive. You're a hero."  
  
Rodney crossed his arms at his chest and set his chin defiantly. "Well then I have to say being a hero sucks."  
  
John couldn't have agreed more. "Pretty much, yeah."  
  
Sighing, Rodney reached over and took another drink of water. "You know I always wanted to be a hero when I was a kid. James Bond or Batman seemed so cool."  
  
"You liked the gadgets, huh? I wanted to be Evil Knievel. "  
  
Rodney smiled. "Death defying daredevil. And this is different from how you live your life, how?"  
  
Slumping back in his chair, John hooked an arm around the backside. "I have never jumped a canyon."  
  
"Yet."  
  
So much sarcasm in one word. John couldn't help but smile.  
  
"The thing is they never tell you what happens after the hero saves the day. It's just a quick fade to black."  
  
"That's why they call em movies, McKay."  
  
"Very funny Colonel." Rodney met his eyes, growing serious once more. "Does it ever get any easier?"  
  
For a brief moment, John thought about lying to him, about saying, 'sure it does', but this was Rodney and he owed him a lot of things, the least of which was the truth. "No, it doesn't, but you learn to live with it."  
  
"Well that's a relief."  
  
John could see that it wasn't any kind of relief at all. He stood up and placed his hand on Rodney's shoulder and squeezed. "I'll let you get some rest. Don't think this gets you out of training tomorrow McKay. I expect you at the gym at our usual time."  
  
"You've got to be kidding."  
  
John hopped on his heels. "You know me, McKay. I never kid about training."  
  
"I'll be there."  
  
John squeezed Rodney's shoulder once more and turned to leave. "Hey, you want to come over tonight and watch a movie. I've got _Top Gun_."  
  
Rodney rolled his eyes. "*I'll* bring the movie."  
  
"Cool. None about snakes though. I don't like snakes."  
  
"So that means no snakes, bugs or dogs getting shot. Have you thought about seeing Heightmeyer for your cinematic issues?"  
  
John smirked. He might have been worried before, but there was no doubt that Rodney was going to be okay. "Catch you later, Rodney."  
  
Rodney tipped his head. "Colonel."  
  
Yeah, he was going to be okay. Better than okay if John had anything to say about it.  
  



End file.
